As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
As per usual with Mike Flanagan's works, Midnight Mass balances out horror and drama perfectly. This page contains moments that can deliver on the scares. Although, it should be noted that these moments could apply for Tearjerker as well.
General
- The entire character of Beverly Keane, in the Realism-Induced Horror sense. While vampires do not exist in the real world, smug, racist, self-righteous people like her definitely do. And while they're mostly harmless when contained, the series shows the horrors they're capable of if they get their hands on some power.
- The Angel's varying levels of intelligence. At first, it seems to merely be a beast skulking in the shadows, only wanting to feed and propagate itself. But as the series continues, it imitates Bowl's voice, wears Pruitt's clothing, and participates in his plan. It isn't incapable of speech and wearing clothes. It just chooses not to...
- There's also the Fridge Horror as to why. Before Leeza's miracle, it was just a mindless beast, feeding. But as more people attended church and fell into Pruitt's plan, it seemed to develop more intelligence as the series progresses. It's the Easter vigil where it reaches its apex, with enough influence and supporters.
- Each time the Angel feeds on screen, it does so with such abandon that its head bobs up and down as it gulps.
Book I: Genesis
- The opening scene. Riley is being recovered while paramedics try to revive a girl. After CPR fails, they leave the scene, and we see the poor girl's corpse, mangled and covered in glass. It's a haunting image that kick-starts Riley's reason to go to Crockett Island.
- Before Riley goes to sleep, he sees the dead girl in his vision, staring back at him. What makes it effective is that the glass is still on her body and a police siren is active, making it look like there's a light inside of her. The ghoulish design is certainly something you don't want to see before you sleep.
- A mysterious man going in a house, dragging a trunk. Then he knocks on it, and something knocks from the inside. What the hell would be in that trunk and who is this man?
- Not helping is the music, with a choir and strings perfectly matching the atmosphere.
- It's revealed that this man is Father Paul Hill, which, according to him, fills in for Monsignor Pruitt for the time being.
- The scenes of Warren and his gang in the Uppards. The sight of the stray cats peering from the darkness is unnerving. But then something snaps a twig, and a loud crescendo plays to indicate that the thing that snapped said twig wasn't a stray.
- Well... that, and the fact that you actually catch a very brief glimpse of the creature as it turns to face Warren and his friends. It looks almost human, apart from the glowing eyes.
- When Bev enters the Monsignor's house, she spots the trunk in the room, and you notice one thing. The lock's busted open. Whatever was in that trunk is now free to escape, and we still don't know what it is.
- Actually, there's one scene after this where a stray wanders about, only to find the corpse of a cat. After hearing twigs break, something picks it up, and loud squelching noises are heard.
- When Riley goes to bed on the first night on the island, he envisions himself on a canoe in the middle of the ocean, and sees the inside of a lit church with its walls caked with blood.
- What makes that jumpscare more effective is that it is auditory, and it comes after hearing the comforting tune of Abide with Me.
- The storm. The loud thunder and the frequent lighting strikes provide distressing moments, especially if you've experienced an intense storm before.
- What's worse is that Riley sees someone on the beach that matches Warren's description (he too recalled seeing a similar figure). When he tries to get the man's attention, he just runs away, and managed to outrun Riley and vanished out of sight after that.
- Seeing all the stray cats wash ashore after the storm. Seeing their corpses wash up with gashes on their bodies is enough to provide a clue as to what thing has targeted the island.
Book II: Psalms
- Continuing from Genesis' Wham Shot, we get to see the corpses of the cats again. Seeing a seagull peck at the gashes of the strays is really unsettling.
- Not helping is the music, minimalistic, yet effective.
- What happened with the starlings in 2002. The fact there's no conclusive answer leaves a lot to the imagination.
- And the pod of dolphins on the west bank that had their 'bites' missing. What the hell happened with that?
- When Riley lies in bed, the camera tilts to a familiar stance, and the girl appears in his vision once again. But he says, "How was your day?". The way he casually says that to the girl means he's Conditioned to Accept Horror.
- There's a tranquil song playing in the background, that continues playing even in Riley's dream.
- Similar to the second dream, the images displayed are the girl's corpse, Riley sitting criss-crossed on a canoe in the ocean, and seeing the figure he'd thought was Pruitt on the beach during the storm.
- After that, the camera pans in an ariel view of the island, but then it moves on its own and whooshing is heard. The camera is actually the perspective of something that is flying. We don't see what it looks like, only its field of vision. Then it goes inside an abandoned house.
- There's one part where it is referenced that Father Paul has been looking at Sarah in a similar way Monsignor Pruitt does, back when she was even a kid. It sounds creepy at first, but upon re-watching, it's clever Foreshadowing of who Paul really is.
- The pot-luck in and of itself is a joyous moment in the episode - at first. Dialogue is exchanged between characters, and everyone is enjoying themselves, until Joe calls out for Pike, his dog. Then Pike is throwing up blood, and dies in agony as his entire lower jaw dissolves in a mixture of blood, vomit and some kind of white frothy substance. The sight of that happening is both heart-wrenching and horrific, and it will haunt you long after it's over.
- Then it hits you. Someone with a floral skirt gave Pike a hot-dog. Who's wearing it? Bev. She intentionally poisoned Pike without a shred of remorse. If her yelling at Pike was her Establishing Character Moment in Genesis, this is her crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
- When Erin is sorting photos, she hears something walking on her roof, making loud footsteps. Then she peaks out the window, and if you look to the left, you'll see a humanoid figure with small, glowing eyes. Then it simply walks away, followed by a violin crescendo similar to the one that played when Warren caught a glimpse of the creature the night before. Just the thought of someone watching you is enough to make your skin crawl.
- Mildred screaming at Sarah that she saw something in the window, which she originally believed was her father based on its clothes. Given how she repeats "that face" over and over again, it's safe to assume that whatever it was, it wasn't pretty. It's also a pretty safe bet that the figure Erin saw is the same one that Mildred saw.
- Bowl walking by that abandoned house at night. When the door opens, he asks if someone's there. He shrugs it off and leaves, only to hear his voice echoing back from the house. He initially thinks it's Ooker, and walks in the house. But we see a figure that resembles a humanoid with glowing eyes. Then it stands up, then leaps at Bowl. His hat is thrown to the ground, and the door slowly closes.
- Leeza getting up from the wheelchair in the episode's end. It's not a scary as the other examples, but how would you feel that seeing someone who was paralyzed in a horrible accident start walking again?
Book III: Proverbs
Book IV: Lamentations
- Joe's death, full stop. The second that he walks into Father Paul's cabin, the viewer gets a sense that something is wrong. That tension only escalates from there, with that feeling of anticipation that Paul will do something bad. When Joe tries to run out of the cabin from Paul (who was displaying weird mannerisms that are vampire-like), he trips and cracks his head open on a table. He pleads to Paul to get help, but all that the priest can do is drink the blood from Joe, and suck from the head wound in another scene.
- Worst of all, Joe is still alive but paralyzed as he watches Paul slurp his blood from the floor, Joe's hand twisted and shaking from the brain damage.
- Riley's (first) death. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time to talk to Father Paul about Joe's sister, only to stumble upon the "Angel" pouring its blood into a vial. When Riley tries to run away, the Angel pounces on him at super high speeds, and bites his neck. All Paul does is close the door silently.
- The series itself relies on atmospheric tension building and auditory spikes and jumpscares to deliver the horror, so seeing this as the only visual jumpscare in the series, the show can be horrific without relying on cheap tactics frequently.
Book V: Gospel
Book VI: Acts of the Apostles
- The episode begins with the camera focusing on Riley's ashes and clothes in the canoe, with a catatonic Erin. Seeing the ashes scout about in the wind is both ominous and heartbreaking.
- Sarah describing to Erin and Mildred what this new condition. Seeing the flashbacks of people drinking from the cup, ingesting the blood, is certainly distressing.
- When the Sherrif fills in Riley's missing person file, the lights go out. He waits for a bit, only to phone Sturge when it doesn't come back on. But it turns out, they're sabotaging the power on purpose for the Easter vigil.Sturge: "That's the last of 'em."
- The fact that they are cutting power off, diverting the boats, and intending on severing the phone reception during the vigil is certainly frightening. All it would take is manipulation and gaslighting to make it look like an accident.
- Then Sturge cuts the cell tower. The island is truly isolated.
- Hearing the singing on the way to the vigil. The song sounds nice, but there's a creeping feeling that something will go wrong.
- The entire Easter vigil, all of it. Every second, it goes From Bad to Worse. Here are some highlights that truly stand out:
- Pruitt saying "I brought with me that angel of the Lord." That's the indication that all those in attendance will see the "Angel".
- Bev taking the cup out of a storage room, only for the camera to pan over a collection of plastic cups. But there's something beside it: Compound 1080. Do the math in terms of how many cups there are.
- Sturge drinks the cup first, and he convulses and throws up blood. Remember how Pike died? Sturge is succumbing to a similar manner.
- Hassan tries to leave with Ali due to the demonstration with Sturge, only to see the Angel wearing a white gown, standing ominously in the entrance.
- The Angel wearing the white gown should be Narm, but due to how he connects with the description of an angel (an archangel as well) and when they appear to mortals, it actually heightens the horror.
- Sturge resurrects just after the Angel unfolds his wings, hiking up the horror for the attendance of the vigil. Leeza looks like she could break down at any moment, and a lot of the participants look in pure horror.
- When Hassan tries to get Ali to leave, he fires his gun at the roof, and gets pinned down. Bev chastises him for this, and she praises Ali for demonstrating bravery and courage. It shows how unhinged she's become.
- Especially since she's praising Ali for defying his father in the pursuit of God. The sixth Commandment is to "honor thy father and thy mother," but Bev doesn't care about that anymore.
- When Ali succumbs to the pressure, he drinks it, to Hassan's despair. Then the rest begin to drink from their cups. Hearing the cups clatter, the retching, and seeing the attendence convulse and throw up blood is straight up horrifying, and is eerily reminiscent of the Jonestown massacre.
- There's even shots of children drinking.
- Sarah, Mildred, and Erin try to prevent as much as they can from drinking, while Leeza breaks down upon seeing their parents dying.
- When Mildred takes Hassan's gun, she shoots Pruitt point blank in the head. He survives, but only moves one eye, paralyzed. But that action results in the Angel dragging her far from the church, to Sarah's despair.
- When the camera pans to Bev's blood soaked hands, the soundtrack becomes a heartbeat.
- The bloodbath when all the deceased reawaken.
- Sturge has no recollection of the massacre, and seeing the shot of a dead little girl makes this both heartbreaking and horrific, knowing that some succumb to hunger, that when they come back, they would have no idea what they have done.
- Pruitt shaking his head at Sturge, telling him not to open the doors. But due to Bev's manipulations, the doors are open and everyone is free.
Book VII: Revelation
- The ashes of the incinerated townspeople, probably including Ed, Annie, Wade, and Dolly, raining down from the sky upon Leeza and Warren as they watch (from the same rowboat Riley died in).
To be sorted
- In the finale, the vampirised congregation feed on the rest of the townsfolk, breaking into their houses or politely knocking on their doors so their former friends let them in.
- Even worse, at least one of their confused victims is brought back to then mindlessly feed on their own loved ones.
- Leeza and Warren spot the Angel fleeing the sunrise; Leeza is naturally worried that it will be able to escape. Warren says it can barely fly and he doesn't think it can get away... but he doesn't seem sure himself. And while Leeza's paralysis does return, we never do see the Angel perish on screen, meaning it might have been able to outrun the sun.
- There is a high chance that it didn't survive, however, as Leeza loses her ability to walk by episode's end. In most vampire lore, that usually means that the vampire that afflicted her, in this case the Angel, has died.
